As agriculture has developed over the centuries, means and methods employed in the agricultural industry have grown in sophistication as technology has advanced. Various chemical preparations have been developed for application to a crop to maximize crop yield. The attention of numerous chemical companies has focused upon the development of fertilization techniques and fertilizer preparations. Similarly, significantly improved products have been developed in the area of pesticides.
Certainly, various types of fertilizers are available. One need only watch television in an agricultural area during the appropriate season, and he will observe a plethora of advertisements for products of numerous companies. Typically, however, fertilizer products tend to be in the nature of either a powdered or granular form. On the other hand, pesticides tend to be liquid in form.
While different application techniques can be employed, it is, without a doubt, more economical, in terms of both cost and time savings, to apply both a fertilizer and either a pesticide concurrently. The current state-of-the-art is such that the powdered or granular fertilizer is mixed together with the liquid pesticide so that concurrent application can be effected.
"In field impregnation" techniques while accomplishing significant time and cost savings, have resulted in the plugging of distributor heads on various fertilizer applicators. Many applicators known in the art employ a distribution head which includes a manifold, typically circular in construction, which has a plurality of peripherally-disposed, circumferentially-spaced ports formed in the floor thereof. The ports afford entry of a centrifugally-fed paste comprising a mixture of the fertilizer and pesticide into distributor conduits which lead to locations spaced along laterally-extending booms on either side of a vehicle using the applicator of which the distribution head is a part. The vehicle has a reservoir which carries the products which are to be applied to the crop. The product paste is conveyed from the reservoir by appropriate means such as an auger system.
In many applicators known in the art, a generally vertically-extending auger conveys the pasty mixture upward into the distributor head. A rotor having a plurality of paddles is disposed in the distributor head for rotation about a generally vertically-extending axis. The products to be applied are conveyed upwardly into the head manifold to enter the manifold chamber generally centrally therewithin. The rotor paddles engage the product and, in view of the rotor rotation, impel the paste radially outwardly.
A number of attachments known in the prior art include vanes or baffles associated with each entry port. These vanes or baffles are positioned so that centrifugally-impelled product will be directed into the entry ports.
The structure of applicators as defined herein, is efficient to direct a fertilizer/pesticide mix into entry ports to distributor conduits for subsequent feed along the conduits to locations along the laterally-extending booms at which application occurs. The structure, however, has presented problems of another nature. Plugging of distributor heads on various fertilizer applicators has resulted. Such plugging increases down-time and, thereby, expense.
Additionally, plugging increases the likelihood that employees will become exposed to pesticides which otherwise might not be necessary. As can be seen then, there can be consequent health risks.
An additional problem with dual-boom applicators is the potential of crop damage which might result from repeating application to a portion of the field during the last pass proximate the edge. State-of-the-art fertilizer applicators, through their application booms, typically have a 60-foot wide swath. If the last pass need cover anything less than 60 feet, distribution along the full lengths of both booms will result in some overlap. Such overlap can result in crop damage, increased carry-over of pesticides, and potential groundwater contamination.
It is to these problems and dictates of the prior art that the present invention is directed. It is an improved device for effecting "in field impregnation" of fertilizers and pesticides. It affords features not only wherein entry ports to distributor conduits can be cleaned without undue exposure of employees to fertilizers and pesticides, but also wherein distribution of the pasty mixture can be limited to only certain distributor conduits.